Courtney’s Mujadara Recipe

Every once in a while I like to have a dinner without meat. I like meat just fine but honestly I get sick of eating it every night and sometimes it just makes too heavy of a dinner. My friend Courtney has started a recipe blog called Kitchen Scraps and I’ve been slowly going through all the recipes that she has posted because I have never tried anything that she has made that I have not liked.

I decided to start with her recipe for a lebanese dish called mujadara because of the very sad excess of lentils in my cupboard. The ingredients are pretty basic and when you combine grains and legumes you end up with a complete protein so it actually makes a great meal to use up some of your long term food storage before it goes to waste. It was really easy to make and my kids actually loved it, which is kind of weird since Ryan does not like rice or onions but he didn’t seem to notice that was the main bulk of what he was eating.

For more details on the recipe you can visit Kitchen Scraps.

Mujadara

Ingredients
-¼ cup olive oil
-about 1 ½ lb. finely chopped yellow onions (2 medium/large ones, or about 4-5 small)
-1 cup brown or green lentils, picked over
-1 cup basmati rice
-1 tsp. salt or 2 bouillon cubes (vegetarian, beef or chicken)
-3 1/2 cups water

Directions
In a large (at least 12 inch, with lid) saucepan or dutch oven warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until very caramelized. burnt in spots is fine, and encouraged. you want the onions very brown, as the caramelized onion flavor is the backbone of the dish. This could take anywhere from 30-50 minutes, depending on your stove and your pan. While the onions are cooking, place the lentils in a medium saucepan, add water to cover by an inch or so, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook, undisturbed, for 20 minutes. Drain the lentils, and set them aside. When the onions are ready, stir in the rice. Then add the cooked lentils, along with 3 1/2 cups of water and the salt or bouillon cubes. Stir to mix well, and bring the pan to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover, and cook. This can take anywhere from 25-40 minutes, depending on the pan you’ve chosen. The wide saucepan I use takes 25 minutes, a dutch oven will take longer. The dish is done when the liquid is absorbed and the rice is no longer crunchy. If you check and the liquid is absorbed but the rice is still underdone, add 1/4-1/2 cup of water, recover the pan and allow to steam for another ten minutes or so before you check again.

Serve with additional salt–this is one of those dishes that blooms when a little additional salt is added at the table.